Frankenstein (2025): parents' guide
Best for ages 16 and up. Rated R for bloody violence and grisly images.
A lavish, tragic gothic drama for older teens who can handle gore, retelling Mary Shelley's novel about a scientist who builds a living man from corpses and then rejects him. Expect lots of blood and body parts: corpses sawed and stitched, people thrown and killed, and animals shot or mauled. There is brief nudity: a glimpse of the Creature's genitals before he wakes, a man's bare backside, and a nude model in a sheer wrap. Victor's mother dies in childbirth, his father beats him as a boy, and the Creature tries to end his own life. Swearing is nearly absent. The graphic violence and nudity are why we suggest 16.
What's in it
Violence
StrongBloody and frequent. Victor dissects and stitches corpses, the Creature hurls men into walls and tears off a man's jaw, people are shot with spurting blood, and wolves attack. Victor's leg is mangled in an explosion, and a woman bleeds to death after childbirth.
Language
MildAlmost none: a few uses of 'bastard' and God's name used as an exclamation. No f-words or s-words are reported.
Sex and nudity
ModerateNo sex scenes, but brief nudity: the Creature's genitals are glimpsed before he is brought to life, Victor's bare backside is seen, and a female model's breasts and pubic hair show through a sheer wrap before her bare backside is seen. Syphilis is discussed.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateAdults drink wine and offer brandy, a man smokes in one scene, an injured character is given laudanum for pain, and a man takes mercury to treat syphilis. No drunkenness or recreational drug use.
Scary or intense scenes
StrongGrisly lab scenes with exposed brains and flayed bodies, battlefield carnage, a cruel father, and the Creature's chained, tormented existence. Several sympathetic characters die, and the Creature attempts to kill himself.
Sensitive topics
- Death of a parent
- Child abuse
- Suicide
- Animal death
Worth talking about
Victor treats the Creature much the way his own father treated him. How does the film show cruelty being passed down a generation, and what finally breaks the cycle?
On our lists
Similar picks around 16+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Wikipedia, movieguide.org, bbfc.co.uk, Rotten Tomatoes. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.